More bad metal exists than good. This is a sad fact, a symptom of our universe; possible proof that if there is a God, he hates us. This monthly guide exists to lighten your load as a wanderer in search of richly goods; it’s a signpost and a starting point, nothing more. Use it how you like, but make sure to do your part: the metal economy needs your hard-earned blood money to survive. Support good metal!

— Aaron Lariviere

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SHOULD RULE HARD

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Daaaaaawnbringer! If ever there was proof the soul exists, that it can be heard in divine compositions and otherworldly playing, that an intangible spirit can steal your breath and force your head to bang: it lives on the new Dawnbringer album. A natural sonic extension of Nucleus, the new record pairs a hero’s quest to murder the sun with riffs so perfectly direct they feel instantly familiar, instantly timeless. A mid-album power ballad threatens to alienate curmudgeons, but the choice feels fucking ballsy in context. The Giant sees Ahab return to the depths of haunting nautical doom. Clean guitars drift to the current of a powerful baritone vocal; suddenly the pressure drops, forcing the air from your lungs; an ocean’s worth of riffs comes crashing like a tidal wave. Anhedonist do death in slow motion—songs spiral into darkness, forever. No light, no hope: no complaints. Russia offers its most vicious export in the form of Pseudogod, whose Hells Headbangers debut delivers alternating black/death blasts and two-chord killing riffs. And if you’re into transmutational alchemy and continental sprawl, be sure to pick up the new Horseback.

May has so much potential it’s mindblowing. I’ll keep these short, for sanity’s sake. Aldebaran joins the Profound Lore roster, stretching time in service of cavernous funeral doom. Cattle Decapitation gets seriously weird when they add clean, thrashed-out vocals on top of unusually epic death/grind. Long forgotten German death ‘n’ rollers Crack Up get the reissue treatment for their ’98 album, Heads Will Roll. It’s an obscure encapsulation of a strange point in time, and hey, they cover Turbonegro. Another worthy reissue: Electrocution’s 20th Anniversary Edition of Inside the Unreal rescues a lost death metal classic from the abyss of time. Fun fact: Electrocution singer Alex Guadagnoli recorded demos with Sepultura after Max quit, only to be vetoed by Roadrunner. Angles and strange detours abound on Emptiness’s Dark Descent debut—think powerful, Immolation-style weirdness from members of Enthroned.

Let’s kick into hyperspeed: Ides of Gemini make “doom-pop” a thing; Mekong Delta are still alive, still thrashing proggily; and Mongrel’s Cross do that Australian black/thrash thing as well as you’d expect from a Hells Headbangers band. Mutilation Rites play big, Brooklyn-style black metal with some warmth around the edges. Finnish prog is outside my wheelhouse but Oddland convincingly blend Gojira and Gentle Giant riffs with manly clean vocals, if you can believe that. And Sabaton are all pomp and circumstance, sugar-coated hooks set against martial, historical-themed power metal. Wino’s back in Saint Vitus, but you probably knew that already. Lillie: F-65 is his first full length Vitus album since 1990; early tracks are promising. Superchristsees Chris Black in yet another project worth hearing, this time spun towards filthy rock and roll. Vetter is a last minute deep-crate find from Norway: a stew of noise, doom riffs, and clean vocals grounded in raw black metal—heady stuff.

Fans of crust can choose from two distinct flavors this month: You’re probably already familiar with Embers‘ hybrid of crust, doom, and black metal–their debut finally gets a physical release this month. And Southern Lord continues its transformation into the preeminent supplier of crusty hardcore with the latest release from Martyrdöd,
which takes the melodic blueprint of Tragedy and pushes to blackened extremes: looks to be killer.

If history is any guide (it is), you can count on Six Feet Under to invent new ways to disappoint with each new release. But I can’t help myselF . . . look at that cover art! A preliminary listen reveals solid riffs and predictably awful vocals mixed on top of everything else, to the detriment of everything else. Sounds like SFU!

SFU should be right up my alley based on how much I love Obituary and CC, but I can barely listen to most of their stuff. Barnes’ voice is a major sticking point, but the riffs themselves are usually so hamfisted that I can’t get past it. This new one definitely has more ‘life’ than anything I’ve heard them do in forever–the riffs are strong, sometimes sounding like a simplified Evisceration Plague. I just wish they’d find a way to integrate the vocals into the riffing without sounding so detached.

Also: Cattle Decap is ruling pretty hard now that I’ve spent time with it. Who’da thunk Brian Johnson vocals would work over death/grind?

Wrong answer! Have you ever checked the riffs on “Nonexistence,” or “Silent Violence,” or “Lycanthropy,” as laid down by one Allen West, also of riff gods Obituary? This new album has a boatload of sweet riffs, too. And if Barnes is such a terrible vocalist then why have half of the death metal bands working copped his style and vibe, not to mention his lyrical approach? I do think Corpsegrinder was a big upgrade and has much more range and inflection but Barnes was one of the original growlers and sounds good on this album. Perhaps it’s an acquired taste.

The One True Street-Jammer

Posted May 1, 2012 at 2:13 PM

I checked them out, and then I checked out of consciousness. Up until this album, SFU was the sound of a band phoning it in every time. They’re lowest common denominator death metal.

I expect that they copied his style and vibe because it was good in theory, but they knew they could do it better. You know what Barnes reminds me of? I used to hang out with this kid that would try to mock death metal by doing death metal vox. That’s what Barnes sounds like to me: somebody trying to parody death metal. He sounds like he’s never done them before, and consequently sounds awful.

Wash Jones

Posted May 1, 2012 at 4:45 PM

Who’d have thought we’d ever see a writer war on this site… over Six Feet Under!?

jmnorton

Posted May 2, 2012 at 1:42 PM

Look, Richard, I know that you are really bummed that a new Liturgy album isn’t coming out this year but that doesn’t mean you and Wash get to pee in the SFU punchbowl. Also, I have to mention that Barnes is one of the people who helped invent the death metal vocal style. Are you suggesting he helped create something only to parody it later in his career? I’m not excusing “Graveyard Classics 3″ but still…

Anyway, you both should watch this and revel in how truly awesome it is.

Richard, I’ll let you get back to Litugy. Wash, you get a pass because you are a huge Asphyx and Obituary fan.

Wash Jones

Posted May 2, 2012 at 2:54 PM

Best comment: “ENTRAILS RIPPED FROM A VOLVO’S TRUNK”

The One True Street-Jammer

Posted May 2, 2012 at 6:13 PM

Well, now I consider Barnes a bad vocalist AND a poseur: if it says Porsche on the back, it’d better be air-cooled.

Also, Norton, I’m insulted…that you couldn’t find an embarrassing band that I actually like to insult me about. I mean seriously, I’m on public record as a fan of djent, power metal, and tech death, and the BEST you could do was Liturgy? Shame on you, sir. Shame on you.

Sameshitdifferentday

Posted May 5, 2012 at 5:50 PM

I’m gonna throw my two cents in and just honestly say that Chris Barnes sucks as a vocalist. Yes. He was an early innovator of the really deep growl, although I’d argue that Frank Mullen is right the hell up there. The fact of the matter is when he was at his deepest he was completely indecipherable, his highs sucked, and he was very monotonous. On the Bleeding, you seem him start to head towards what he was going to do with SFU. Once he was in SFU, he just started phoning in completely. I can’t stand a single song by SFU and I doubt Undead would change my mind. Just because a band has been influentual in the past doesn’t make them good now. I’m looking at you Obituary.

trumbum

Posted June 11, 2012 at 10:37 PM

that first SFU album was chock full of excellent riffs and a danceable groove. saw em on that tour and they were splendid. kind of lost track of them and many years later bought something called graveyard classics (the first one) out of a cheapo bin for 2 bucks. it is the 2 dollars i most desparately wanted back ever since, it was the worst record i have ever heard, i’d rather listen to sting or yet… coldplay. chris barnes doing california uber alles and TNT is something i can never undo hearing.

Really looking forward to the Jess and the Ancient Ones debut, thanks for reminding me ! I feel dumb saying the band name out loud… Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld should be the only band that get to use that set up.

I saw Cattle Decap live, and IMO, the recordings never convey just how guttural and sick his vox are. Offhand, Travis Ryan and Peter Tagtgren (sp?) are the only 2 people who can do both the death grunt and the BM shriek well.

There are no ‘cahoots’. I’ve met J maybe twice, but I don’t know him personally.

To be honest, I didn’t care for the first EP at all. I got a promo of the new album and warmed to it over time. That I keep coming back indicates there’s something in there that works for me, simple as that.